June Private Residential Construction Spending Dips
Private residential construction spending fell by 0.7% in June, marking the sixth straight month of…
June Private Residential Construction Spending Dips
Private residential construction spending fell by 0.7% in June, marking the sixth straight month of decreases. This decline was primarily driven by reduced spending on single-family construction. Compared to a year ago, total spending was down 6.2%, as the housing sector continues to navigate the economic uncertainty stemming from ongoing tariff concerns and elevated mortgage…
Personal Income Rises 0.3% in June
Personal income increased by 0.3% in June, following a 0.4% dip in May, according to the latest data from the Bureau of Economic Analysis. The gains in personal income were largely driven by higher wages and social benefits. However, the pace of personal income growth slowed from its peak monthly gain of 1.4% in January…
Housing Share of GDP: Second Quarter 2025
Housing’s share of the economy registered 16.3% in the second quarter of 2025, according to the advance estimate of GDP produced by the Bureau of Economic Analysis. This reading is unchanged from a revised level of 16.3% in the first quarter and is the same as the share one year ago. The more cyclical home…
Fed Remains on Pause Again
At the conclusion of its July meeting, the Federal Reserve’s monetary policy committee once again held the federal funds rate constant at a top rate of 4.5%. However, two members of the committee dissented from the decision (Fed Board Governors Waller and Bowman), the largest number of dissenting votes since 1993. Moreover, some economic data…
Market Flip: Existing Homes Outprice New Homes
In the second quarter of 2025, the median price for a new single-family home was $410,800, which was $18,600 lower than the median price of existing homes, which stood at $429,400. This marks the largest historical gap where existing home prices exceeded those of new homes, according to U.S. Census Bureau and National Association of…
Construction Job Openings Relatively Unchanged in June
The count of open, unfilled positions in the construction industry held steady amid a slowdown for housing, per the June Bureau of Labor Statistics Job Openings and Labor Turnover Survey (JOLTS). The number of open jobs for the overall economy decreased slightly from 7.71 million in May to 7.44 million in June. This is about equal…
A Warning Sign: Homeownership Rate Declines to Lowest Level Since 2019
The latest homeownership rate declined to 65% in the second quarter of 2025, marking its lowest level since late 2019, according to the Census’s Housing Vacancy Survey (HVS). With mortgage interest rates remaining elevated and housing supply still tight, housing affordability is at a multidecade low. Compared to the peak of 69.2% in 2004, the…